Is the Harborside renovation project going to cost millions more than expected?

There is new controversy surrounding a Fort Myers city agenda item, suggesting millions more could be spent on the Luminary Hotel project.

Monday, February 12th 2018, 6:33 PM EST

Updated:

Thursday, April 19th 2018, 11:06 AM EDT

There is new controversy surrounding a Fort Myers city agenda item, suggesting millions more could be spent on the Luminary Hotel project.

In the consent agenda for next week's city council meeting on Feb. 20, under city manager's items, it lists "increase hotel parking garage capital project" and "increase Harborside renovation capital project."

According to the agenda, the plan is to increase the budget for the hotel parking garage by $3,400,000, bringing the total to $10,400,000. For the Harborside renovation project, there would need to be an increase of $2,871,350, bringing that total to $12,000,000.

Here's the issue, the agenda says increase, but the city leaders said this is money that's already been accounted for and agreed upon.

Instead, what you see is a breakdown of money that's already been offered to Mainsail Development, the developer behind the $87 million hotel project.

The city's public information officer claimed this is a part of a procedure with all budgets.

In December, Fort Myers agreed to offer a property tax rebate to be paid over a 25-year period.

Mainsail President Joe Collier III said the plan has been to move forward since this money was secured.

"Soon as we have those in our hands, we can close. We can expect to close with the construction loan just a few days after that, and we expect to be under construction fully in the first couple days of March," said Collier.

An additional $300,000 will go toward the already $2,000,000 project to move the Centennial Park boat ramp further up toward North Fort Myers, a move that was expected not to be included until the fiscal year 2019, now on schedule for the fiscal year 2018.

City leaders said all the total increases would be funded with "future debt," which they said means that the city would pay off debt through the use of future revenues from the project.

Since the money has already been agreed upon, there won't be any discussion on the subject unless the item is pulled from the agenda by a council member.